THE OLD 

SWIMMIN' 

HOLE 

AND 

OTHER POEMS 



JAMES 
WHITCOMB 
RILEY 




Class ^c5>?s^ 
__ 



Book 



Copyrights 



>f*Z 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 




if ill 



I III 
OLD SWIMMIN'-HOLE 

\M) OTHER POEMS 



\ 

WILL \ 









Copyright, 19 12, 

BY 

JAMES WIIITCOMB RILEY 



All Rights Reserved 



PRESS OF 

BRAUNWORTH & COMPANY 

BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



&CLA320934 



THE ( >LD 



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1 



THE OLD SWIMMIN -HOLE 



Oh ! the old swimmin'-hole ! In the happy days of yore, 
When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore, 
Oh ! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tide 
That gazed back at me so gay and glorified, 
It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress 
My shadder smilin' up at me with sich tenderness. 
But them days is past and gone, and old Time's tuck 

his toll 
From the old man come back to the old swimmin'-hole. 

Oh ! the old swimmin'-hole ! In the long, lazy days 
When the hum-drum of school made so many run-a- 

ways, 
How pleasant was the jurney down the old dusty lane, 
Whare the tracks of our bare feet w r as all printed so 

plane 
You could tell by the dent of the heel and the sole 
They was lots o' fun on hands at the old swimmin'- 
hole. 
But the lost joys is past ! Let your tears in sorrow roll 
Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin'- 
hole. 
Thare the bullrushes growed, and the cattails so tall, 
And the sunshine and shadder fell over it all ; 



8 






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THE OLD SWIMMIN -HOLE 



And it mottled the worter with amber and gold 
Tel the glad lilies rocked in the ripples that rolled ; 
And the snake- feeder's four gauzy wings fluttered by 
Like the ghost of a daisy dropped out of the sky, 
Or a wownded apple-blossom in the breeze's controle, 
As it cut acrost some orchurd to'rds the old swimmin'- 
hole. 

Oh ! the old swimmin'-hole ! When I last saw thfe place, 
The scenes was all changed, like the change in my face ; 
The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot 
Whare the old divin'-log lays sunk and fergot. 
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be — 
But never again will theyr shade shelter me ! 
And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul, 
And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin'-hole. 




10 



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rind me 

The truant boy I used to love— 

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WITH THE CURRENT 



RAREST mood of all the year ! 
Aimless, idle, and content — 
Sky and wave and atmosphere 
Wholly indolent. 

Little daughter, loose the band 

From your tresses — let them pour 
Shadow-like o'er arm and hand 
Idling at the oar. 



14 



- 




WITH THE CURRENT 



Low and clear, and pure and deep, 

Ripples of the river sing — 
Water-lilies, half asleep, 

Drowsed with listening : 

Tremulous reflex of skies — 

Skies above and skies below, — 
Paradise and Paradise 
Blending even so ! 

Blossoms with their leaves unrolled 

Laughingly, as they were lips 
Cleft with ruddy beaten gold 
Tongues of pollen-tips. 

Rush and reed, and thorn and vine, 

Clumped with grasses lithe and tall- 
With a web of summer-shine 
Woven round it all. 

Back and forth, and to and fro — 

Flashing scale and wing as one, — 
Dragon-flies that come and go, 
Shuttled by the sun. 



16 






:il THE CI 



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Dr 

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17 



ON THE SUNNY SIDE 



HI and whoop-hooray, boys! 
Sing a song of cheer! 
Here's a holiday, boys, 
Lasting half a year! 
Round the world, and half is 

Shadow we have tried ; 
Now we're where the laugh is,— 
On the sunny side ! 

Pigeons coo and mutter, 

Strutting high aloof 
Where the sunbeams flutter 

Through the stable roof. 
Hear the chickens cheep, boys, 

And the hen with pride 
Clucking them to sleep, boys, 

On the sunny side ! 

18 






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1 



THE OLD HAY-MOW 



THE Old Hay-mow's the place to play 
Fer boys, when it's a rainy day! 
I good-'eal ruther be up there 
Than down in town, er anywhere! 

When I play in our stable-loft, 
The good old hay's so dry an soft, 
An' feels so fine, an' smells so sweet, 
I 'most ferget to go an' eat. 

An' one time wunst I did ferget 
To go 'tel dinner was all et, — . 
An' they had short-cake — an' — Bud he 
Hogged up the piece Ma saved fer me! 

Nen I won't let him play no more 
In our hay-mow where I keep store 
An' got hen-eggs to sell, — an' shoo 
The cackle-un old hen out, too ! 



20 



THE OLD HAY-MOW 



An' nen, when Aunty she was here 
A-visitun from Renssalaer, 
An' bringed my little cousin, — he 
Can come up there an' play with me. 

But, after while — when Bud he bets 
'At I can't turn no summersetts, — 
I let him come up, ef he can 
Ac' ha'f-way like a gentleman! 




22 




IWER 



BA! 

And 

ill, 
I then, abrupt, — th< f — 

Smile at tl 



23 






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AT NINETY IN THE SHADE 

HOT weather ? Yes ; but really not, 
Compared with weather twice as hot. 
Find comfort, then, in arguing thus, 
And you' 11 pull through victorious ! — 
For instance, while you gasp and pant 
And try to cool yourself — and can't — 
With soda, cream and lemonade, 
The heat at ninety in the shade, — 
Just calmly sit and ponder o'er 
These same degrees, with ninety more 
On top of them, and so concede 
The weather now is cool indeed ! 



26 



AT NINETY IN THE SHADE 



Think — as the perspiration dews 
Your fevered brow, and seems to ooze 
From out the ends of every hair — 
Whole floods of it, with floods to spare — 
Think, I repeat, the while the sweat 
Pours down your spine — how hotter yet 
Just ninety more degrees would be, 
And bear this ninety patiently! 
Think — as you mop your brow and hair, 
With sticky feelings everywhere — 
How ninety more degrees increase 
Of heat like this would start the grease; 
Or, think, as you exhausted stand, 
A wilted "palmleaf" in each hand — 
When the thermometer has done 
With ease the lap of ninety-one ; 
O, think, I say, what heat might do 
At one hundred and eighty-two — 
Just twice the heat you now declare, 
Complainingly, is hard to bear. 
Or, as you watch the mercury 
Mount, still elate, one more degree, 
And doff your collar and cravat, 
And rig a sponge up in your hat, 

28 



AT NINETY IN THE SHADK 

be 
nc willl 







SEP 23 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




012 227 538 3 & 



